Thing 6

Flickr was very fun to explore with. I loved many of the photos and could easily spend a long time going through it. I chose this picture of a koala because koalas are one of my favorite animals and there was something about this koala's eyes that brought me to upload it. Many of the photos I saw of koalas were just beautiful as was this one.

Thing 5

RSS wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be after talking to some of you. I actually had a links folder, I don't know how but I did and it was easy to add blogs using that way. I thought all 3 ways were quite easy actually considering the videos were so self explanatory. I could using this in many ways. I like how you could add any kind of blogs, for example if there was something on the news you wanted to follow or if you were following a famous person's story. I think many people would could use it to keep on top of what is happening around them.

Thing 4

Well I just finished adding my folders to my new Bloglines account and it was pretty easy to do with the great tutorial videos. I have to admit I never even heard of RSS until now and I am sure I will learn even more in the next thing or two. I do like the idea of something to help manage all there is with blogging. I now understand what the subscribe button on some blogs means. When I was looking at different blogs I saw some had that button and had no clue what it meant or why I couldn't subscribe to it. I am sure in Thing 5 I will become much more familiar with it. As everyone I am always looking for ways to make things much easier to manage, as I am quite on the run with 2 little muchkins at home too! In fact nap time is over so I must be off now....

Thing 3

I really enjoyed looking at all the different blogs from different classrooms and countries. I really liked the one from Australia, they said mum instead mom and I got a kick out of it.

I think I would use the blog in my classroom for various things. I saw that one teacher had a book report form on her blog and students could fill it out on the blog and send it to the teacher. I like that,, we do a lot of book reports in class and I think the kids would love doing it on the computer and they could also do them at home when they read a book. I also think I would use by posting pictures from field trips, parties, special assemblies, etc. The idea of keeping notes to parents, various forms (field trip, lunch orders, etc.) and sign up sheets for volunteer drivers or for treats in the classroom online would really help parents out too. I have some parents that I rarely see because they work and their kids go to latchkey so I think they would love seeing the blog to see what we are doing.

I think the students would have to be taught how to search for things online and be responsible and respectful as they are searching. I also would want to approve everything that is posted to the blog in case there are comments that want to be posted from parents or others that are unsuitable.

Thing 1 and 2

Finally just finishing Thing 1 and 2! I have to say that after reading the article and watching the videos I never realized how much there is out there that I never knew about in the techonolgy world (podcasting, wikis, etc.). I am glad I will be learning about all these things and how to implement them in my classroom or personal life. I also never realized that cell phones played such an important role in technology or did that much for that fact.

I can't wait to learn more and get feedback from all of you. This seems like it will be an interesting journey!